Killer Interview Question: What Is Your Spiritual Practice?

An unusual addition to the killer interview questions collection: What is your spiritual practice?.

Picture: Getty Images/Frazer Harrison

This falls into the region of questions that a prospective employer should never actually ask in Australia, because seeking details that could be used as the basis of discrimination, including religious affiliation, is contrary to anti-discrimination law.

There are a very narrow and specific set of circumstances where it is an allowable question, such as religious bodies employing those to take part in religious observances, but for the most part, employers aren’t allowed to ask questions that could give the appearance of potential discrimination in interviews.

Oprah Winfrey apparently used the question — and she’d be in trouble in Australia if she did — but her spin on it wasn’t specifically religious but instead asking about prospective employees’ relationships with themselves, and what measures, if any, they used to keep themselves balanced.

There’s all sorts of ways to answer that question. If it’s pertinent to the job, you could point out hobbies that you have that allow you to remain centred but also enhance your employability. So jogging, for example could be a big plus because you’re keeping fit, but abseiling might be a dangerous fitness choice due to the perceived risk.

Likewise, activities such as meditation and yoga could impress someone asking a question along those lines.

How would you answer the question?

Oprah Winfrey asked this unorthodox interview question to find an executive for her television network [Business Insider]


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